Professor Cara Chiaraluce Publishes Book
Becoming an Expert Caregiver published by Rutgers University Press
Cara Chiaraluce's book Becoming an Expert Caregiver: How Structural Flaws Shape Autism Carework & Community was published by Rutgers University Press as part of a special book series "Carework in a Changing World," which provides a dedicated space for feminist carework scholarship. This book features compelling qualitative research with primary caregivers of autistic and neurodivergent children who illuminate the process through which laywomen become experts in response to cumulative frustrations in U.S. care systems, particularly in education and healthcare, and constraining flaws in entrenched cultural ideals of gender, family, health, and ability. Throughout the chapters in this book, the expert caregiver is one person who faces unbelievably daunting tasks of filling or reforming persistent institutional gaps and subverting ableist cultural norms. The process of becoming an expert caregiver spotlights several interesting paradoxes in sociological literature, particularly regarding gender, family, and medicalization. This book has been featured on the Carework Network, an international organization of researchers, policymakers, and advocates involved in various domains of carework.